There are few things more basic to civilization than the process of inscribing thoughts and other expressions of intelligence on paper and similar materials with writing instruments such as pencils, pens, and similar implements. For individuals to write successfully, however, requires a high order of hand-eye coordination, as well as the ability to impose relatively subtle movements on the writing instrument; otherwise, the writing is difficult or impossible for individuals to read, sometimes including the writer thereof. While writing is taught to most individuals at an early age, many have difficulty mastering the manual dexterity required for proper guidance of a pen or pencil. In addition, some individuals are handicapped by physical limitations, disease, advanced age, or from other causes, and these find writing a difficult task to carry out competently. Furthermore, in many instances, the configuration of the writing instruments themselves are of small diameter, or otherwise difficult to grasp securely, making their accurate movement difficult, even by those skilled in the art of writing.
In addition, in the case of some writing instruments such as, for example, pens, it is frequently necessary or desirable to protect the instrument's point, either from damage, or from soiling items with which it comes in contact.
Various devices have been proposed ot facilitate the writing task, for example, a finger rest for pencils and penholders is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 249,893; a hand-positioning attachment for a pen in shown in U.S. Pat. No. 629,436; an expansible elastic grip for pencils and penholders is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 1,291,972; finger grip and cushion attachments are shown, respectively, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,173,451 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,236,194; a removable finger grip adaptable to different sized writing instruments is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,347; and a device for ading in the gripping of writing instruments is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,547.
While each of the devices mentioned is designed to assist in the writing process, the devices have significantly different structures than the invention taught herein, and such devices are believed to be substantially less effective in achieving the stabilizing effect which the invention herein disclosed seeks to achieve. Furthermore, none features an ability to protect the point of a writing instrument from damage.